Xu Dawei
Xu Dawei’s work advances through the interplay betweenintuition and reason. Beginning with color, atmosphere, or an ambiguous image,he explores the tension and rhythm inherent in the picture’s structure—therelationships between brushstroke, color, and shape—and the emotional responsesthey evoke. He believes the essence of the world is abstract, and that thisvery abstraction can awaken an inner spiritual space. The figures in hispaintings function as symbols of “the traveler.” They are not specificindividuals but inhabitants of a liminal space between solitude and courage,embodying a provisional relationship between people and their environment andthe eternal state of “being on the way.”
Xu Dawei, born inZhejiang in 1980. Studied at the Comprehensive Painting Studio, Department ofIntegrated Art, China Academy of Art from 2001 to 2005. Currently lives and works in Shanghai.
Night in the Mountain Hollow
200×170
Oil on canvas
2025
In the Valley
200×250
Oil on canvas
2025
A Tranquil Lake
150×200
acrylic on canvas
2024
Green Valley
120×160
Oil and acrylic on canvas
2025
The Gatherer
160×220
Oil on canvas
2025
Back, Mountains and Void
120×160
Oil on canvas
2025
The Blazing Youth
240×180
Oil on canvas
2025
The Unfolding View
150×200
Oil and Acrylic on canvas
2023–2025
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Stalker
Leo Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Relics (Personal Project)
West Bund Art & Design, Leo Gallery, Shanghai, China
Consilience
LIANG PROJECT, Shanghai, China
Clearing in the Woods
LIANG PROJECT, Shanghai, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
Ivy Project — 2014 First China Young Artists Recommendation Exhibition
Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, China
New Force Young Artists Exhibition
Leo Gallery, Shanghai, China
Art Beijing
AYE Gallery, National Agricultural Exhibition Center, Beijing, China
This Shore, That Shore, Poetry on the Journey
AYE Gallery, Beijing, China
The Twelve Paintings
L-Art Gallery, Chengdu, China
Paper · Surface — 2015 Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition
Luohu Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Art Stage Singapore
Leo Gallery, Singapore
Micro Experience — Hidden Realm
Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Received Busan Artist Award Art Beijing
MadeIn Gallery, National Agricultural Exhibition Center, Beijing, China
Busan Art Fair
MadeIn Gallery, Busan, South Korea
ASIANOW — Asian Art Fair
MadeIn Gallery, Paris, France
ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair
MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai, China
7080 New Painting
LIANG PROJECT, Shanghai, China
FROM CONSUMPTION OVER SUBSTANCE REFLECTION
MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai, China
Elite Young Artists Program
Right View Art Museum, Beijing, China
Inexplicable
PearlLam Galleries, Shanghai, China
Images of Painting
ZartCenter, Shanghai, China
Jungle III — Common
Platform China, Beijing, China
Young Thinkers Courage and Freedom Exhibition
ZartCenter, Shanghai, China
Onomatopoeia
Rongyi Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Modern Times
ArtDepot, 798 Art District, Beijing, China
The Riddle of the Symbols
Triumph Gallery, 798 Art District, Beijing, China
The Essence of Painting — Beyond Concept
Sailing Space, Shanghai, China
Global Painting — La Nuova pittura in Cina (Europe & U.S. Tour)
MART Museum, Rovereto, Italy
The Micro-narration
Sailing Space, Shanghai, China
Spring Equinox
LIANG PROJECT, Shanghai, China
Global New Painting — A New Generation of Chinese Artists (Parallel Exhibition in China)
YIBO Gallery, Shanghai, China
Mountains of Mind
East Gallery, Nanjing, China
Urban Fluidity
Wuhan Biennale, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan, China
Spring Breeze & Flower Buds
Sailing Space, Shanghai, China
Super Reality
Kunming Art Biennale, Yunnan Art Museum, Kunming, China
Reality, Surreality – Major Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Painting
Museum of Contemporary Art & Urban Planning, Shenzhen, China